The present disclosure relates generally to photolithography systems and, more particularly, to a cleaning apparatus and method for use in a liquid immersion lithography process.
As semiconductor fabrication technologies are continually progressing to smaller feature sizes such as 65 nanometers, 45 nanometers, and below, immersion lithography methods are being adopted. However, during an exposure process using an immersion lithography system, contaminations such as particles and water residues can be introduced into the immersion lithography system and further contaminate semiconductor wafers to be processed therein. Such contamination can cause defects and yield degradations.
Therefore, what is needed is a simple and cost-effective apparatus and method to clean the immersion lithography system.